Product Description

Winner for Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival, this wonderfully romantic and uplifting story is from the acclaimed director of the Academy Award(R) nominee CHILDREN OF HEAVEN (Best Foreign Language Film, 1999). In a Tehran building site, a 17-year-old Iranian named Lateef is known more for his playful antics than his hard work. Then things take an unexpected turn when an Afghan coworker falls from the building and the worker's son, Rahmat, enters the scene to become the new provider for his family. But even as Lateef finds himself irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, it's not until the revelation of Rahmat's secret (that he is actually a young woman, posing as a man) that both of their lives are forever changed! A humorous and moving love story of the most romantic kind -- critics everywhere have declared this delightfully entertaining motion picture as one not to be missed!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25441 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Persian
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 94 minutes

From The New Yorker
Latif (Hossein Abedini), a wily Iranian teen-ager, falls in love with an Afghan refugee girl, Baran (Zahra Bahrami), who works at the same construction site as he does in Tehran. He hardly approaches her, though; he treats Baran as a kind of sacred mystery he must protect. This quietly rhapsodic movie is made in a spirit of the deepest respect. It doesn't knock you out, but it's often touching. Written and directed by the Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi. In Farsi. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

"Baran" Means "Rain"; Story of Tender Feeling Deftly Told
Majid Majidi, director of "The Children of Heaven" (first Oscar-nominated film from Iran), gives us another heart-warming (and slightly poignant) film about "Baran" (meaning "Rain"). The film has a romantic taste in a subdued narrative, and perhaps a very immediate and political message. But like a lovable brother and sister in "Heaven," "Baran" is about the two people in Iran tenderly depicted by Majidi.

The story starts with a young man Lateef working at a construction site somewhere in Iran. The work is hard, and many workers are actually not Iranian, but illegal immigirants from Afghanistan. The boss Memar (excellent Mohammad Amir Naji, father of the children in "Heaven") is in fact a good fellow, but doesn't (or cannot) give much wage to them. There, Lateef has been assigned a rather easy job, serving tea and bread because of his father.

But one day Lateef must start to work, this time a real one. For one of the workers of the place broke his leg, and a son of the injured, very small boy named Rahmat, replaces this guy who could be lazy until then. Sulky, discontent, Rahmat acts very nastily before this small boy ... until he finds a surprising secret about "Rahmat" who in fact is named "Baran."

The rest of the story should remain untold. The man begins to change his attitudes to this newcomer, silently protecting Baran and keeping the secret from the people around them. But what can he do? And how far can he go when he knows someday Baran and the family must go back to the country where the society is still very unstable? All those emotional changes happening in this man's heart are tactly dealt with Majidi's lyrical narrative, without being too sugary and sentimental.

I understand some people's complaint that this film (and Iranian films in general) is too slow-moving. And I think the latter half, which should have shown more of Baran, seems a bit overlong. The 90 minutes surely feel long even for me (though I have watched many films from that country). Still, the charms of the simple tale with rich details of the everyday life in Iran which the Western media rarely cover are irresitible.

Certainly it moves slow, but "Baran" presents us what a good cinema can do with its good visuals and sincere attitudes towards filmmaking and the people it pictures.

Those who are interested in Iran-Afghanistan relations should see "Kandahar" and "The Cyclist." The former in a sense follows the possible life of Baran, and the latter is a big hit in Iran about a most desperate bet done by an aged illegal immigrant from Afghanistan, who has to ride a bicycle through one whole week.

A very human love story among refugees in Teheran
Filmed before the tragic events of September 11, and yet as timely as today's headlines, this Iranian film captures the plight of Afghan refuges in Teheran. There are more than 1.4 million of them who fled the Russian invasion in 1979. Many have grown up never seeing their homeland and, like illegal aliens everywhere, work the hardest for the lowest pay. And yet, this is a love story.

The scene is a skeletal construction site where workers are putting bricks in the frame of a large building. Shot from a distance, the people look like worker bees. But they soon become individuals as the director moves the camera towards them. Work is hard, dusty, backbreaking and dangerous. And there are both Iranians and illegal Afghans working there. The owner, played by Mohammad Amir Naji, is always screaming "get back to work" but we soon find out that his bark is worse than his bite. He's under pressure to get the job done right or he won't be paid, and he also has a warm place in his heart for the hard-working Afghans who must run and hide whenever the inspectors come around.

Lateef, played by Hossein Abedini, is a 17-year old Turkish Iranian and so therefore has a precious identity card. His job is the cook and "tea boy" on the site. He's full of ego and loves to joke around, often getting into arguments and scuffles. One day, one of the Iranian workers gets injured and, in order to feed his family, sends Rahmat, in his place. Rahmat is small and delicate and cannot carry the heavy bags of cement and so therefore is assigned Lateef's job. Lateef is at first furious and is especially angry when Rahmat's cooking is praised by all the workers. Later events make him change his attitude though.

It is interesting that throughout the entire film, Rahmat doesn't speak one single word. However, the audience doesn't miss anything as every possible emotion comes through with just expressions and gestures. The story is a rich emotional experience against a background of harsh reality. The cinematography and direction are excellent. I could feel the strain of muscles doing heavy work. I saw the beauty of the natural countryside, and felt the horror of never having an identity card. I shuddered at the image of a cold stream, which would be beautiful except that women laborers, cold and overworked, were eking out a living by moving boulders. This is the story of extreme struggle. And yet, it is the love story that shines through.

There are few "must see's"....this is one
I was not really aware of Majid Majidi until I took a chance on this movie the first time. It is a strikingly beautiful movie, a simple story deftly told. Not much happens in it......not much has to.

Baran is the story of hard-nosed, selfish kid named Lateef whose cynical view of the world is changed once he makes a discovery about the "son" of one of the worker's who is out injured. He is tough on the son at first until he makes the discovery that the "he" is actually a she, trying to provide for the family now that the father is hurt. It is a love affair without very many words being uttered between the two. I won't say too much more so I don't spoil the entire story but this movie trancends language. You forget you are reading subtitles. It is a beautiful work, both in the story told within and the stunning cinematography.

Hollywood could learn something from watching this movie. Buy it.....cinema is alive and well!